Mid Winter Fate - Unedited
by FTWDaddicted
Summary: It was the middle of winter when fate drew two of the most powerful magical beings of their time together. It would also be fate that would tear the two apart...looking for a beta.
1. Prologue

_*** FATE ***_  
 _ **The development of events outside a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power.**_

 **Prologue:**

"Professor, may we speak to you about something we've come across?" The familiar voice of Harry Potter asked the old headmaster of Hogwarts as he, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger stood a few feet away from Dumbledore's desk.

Professor Dumbledore saw the look in each of their eyes. He knew what they were looking for.

"I'm guessing you've found out about her." He asked the three teenagers who nodded in sync. "You weren't supposed to."

"She could help us against Lord Voldemort." Harry said, hope taking a grasp of him.

"I'm afraid she won't be of any use." Dumbledore said, a look of sadness crossing his features.

Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't question him. Instead Harry mostly seemed curious, Hermione had a lot of unanswered questions which was difficult for her to comprehend and Ron, was only there because his friends were. He wouldn't admit he was slightly curious to know who Rose Delaney was and why she would become important to the red-haired teen.

"Rose Helena Delaney," Harry spoke again. "Who is she? We've tried to find more information on her but everything has seemed to have been erased."

"Rose was a very special witch," Dumbledore told the three teens and started the story of a witch forgotten. "Rose Delaney always believed in a higher power, in fate, in destiny. But she never thought meeting Tom Riddle was part of Fate's plan for her. Fate was the one to bring the two of them together but Fate would also be the one to tear them apart... in the most horrifying way. It all started back when Rose was only but a girl..."


	2. Chapter 01

It was the middle of winter when Rose Delaney's world collided with Tom Riddle's world, literally. The young girl, aged ten, was running through the halls of wools orphanage, not watching where she was going when she ran into the stoic Tom Riddle.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized to the dark hair and brown eyed boy. She wanted to get away from him as fast as she could but her little legs would not move.

Only having been at the orphanage for a week and being as young as she was, she could already tell that the boy in front of her, giving her his best glare, was different. It wasn't because of his cold stare or that he always seemed to be alone. Every time she looked at him he seemed to have a certain glow around him, a glow she had only seen surround two other people. It wasn't a pink glow like she always saw around her Aunt Maggie before she died, or the Blue around a man she couldn't quite remember.

No, Tom's one was black and dim with a faint red surrounding it. It matched the cold look in his eyes when he glared at the other children. She could tell something dark and powerful had hold of the boy not much older than her.

Tom showed no sign of accepting the girl with the greyish blue eyes and mousy brown hair's apology. He continued to glare at her, intimidating her even more than he already was. Her legs still refused to take her anywhere else.

"We haven't formally met yet," she found herself politely saying as she held out her hand towards him. "I'm Rose Delaney."

She didn't need to ask his name, she already knew it from the stories she'd been told, there were ones of horror she didn't quite believe, ones of jealousy from the boys who had crushes on the girl's that crushed on Tom and especially one's by the girls who seemed to have a crush on Tom, which was most of them in their age group. She couldn't deny she saw why the girls had a crush on him. He was handsome for a boy their age but for her that's as far as it went. She barely knew him enough to develope any kind of crush on him.

"Tom," he sneered looking down at her out-stretched hand. She looked a little surprised he had said something.

"It's nice to meet you, Tom," she said trying to sound a little cherrier than she felt. She noticed the black glow around him darkened but also brightened.

Neither of them said anything more. It wasn't until a loud knock at the door interrupted their unintentional staring contest. As Rose looked towards the staircase that led to the front door, Tom went back to his room.

Always being a curious child, Rose went to investigate who could be at the door.

As she reached the middle of the stairs she noticed there was an eccentric looking man talking to Mrs. Cole. He suddenly stopped talking and turned his attention towards Rose. The man looked vaguely familiar but Rose couldn't think if where she had seen him before.

"Miss Delaney, it's a pleasure seeing you again," the older man smiled at her. Rose gave him a look of confusion. He knew her name but she didn't know his. "I've come to speak to you and Mr. Riddle."

"You know Tom?" She asked as she followed him and Mrs. Cole back up the stairs and onto the second floor where she was having a staring contest with Tom just minutes ago.

"Don't be so nosy, Rose," Mrs Cole scolded the young girl.

Rose glared at the woman who ran the orphanage. Mrs Cole had to look away from her. Something about upsetting the young girl frightened the older woman, just like Tom did.

Rose turned her attention back to the man when Mrs. Cole said nothing more, her glare turning into a look of concern. "He's an odd fella, keeps to himself a lot. Why are you here to see him? Why do you want to talk to me."

"I'll be talking to you after I've spoken to Tom," the man said using her nickname her Aunt always use to call her. He gave her a wink before Mrs Cole lead him into Tom's room, leaving the girl slightly confused.

She went back to her room, sat on her bed and stared at the glass vase holding a single flower trying to remember where she had seen the man before and the blue aura he had surrounding him.

It wasn't long before she was caught up in a memory.

She remembered clearly that she had gotten in trouble with her aunt over something trivial. Her Aunt wouldn't allow her dessert after her dinner because she hadn't done her homework. Rose had gotten so angry that when she glared at her Aunt, the glass in her Aunt's hand shattered into a thousand pieces, cutting her Aunt's hand. The next day is when the strange man arrived at the door. He looked just like the man that wanted to see her and Tom, the man with the blue aura.

Her Aunt never told her what her and the odd man talked about. She was always curious to know. Maybe she could finally find out now.

It wasn't until a throat clearing she turned her attention away from the glass vase and looked towards where the noise came from.

She saw the man from before standing there, a friendly smile on his face. "May I come in?"

"Of course, sir."

The man walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed across from hers. "Miss Delaney, my name is Albus Dumbledore. You can call me Professor Dumbledore."

"That's an odd name. Are you a teacher?" She asked curiously.

"I am Miss. Delaney. I work at a school for the extremely gifted children like you and Mr. Riddle." He informed her peaking her interest.

Rose was bright for her age. She had top marks in all her school work. So when she didn't know or understand something she made it her priority to find out and didn't stop until she had all the facts. But this school wasn't because she was bright for her age, it was for her ability.

"Tell me Miss. Delaney, has anything odd happened around you that you couldn't explain?"

Rose nodded without having to think about it too much. She remembered what happened with the glass in her Aunt's hand and another time which happened more recently. It was the reason she had been moved to Wools Orphanage.

"A girl in the last orphanage I was in made me angry. She wouldn't give me back my doll." She begun to explain, looking away from the professor, a look of shame on her face. "Her fingers snapped back making her let go of my doll. Somehow her fingers had broken. I don't know how it happened but I got the blame and now I'm here."

"Magic, that's how it happened." Professor Dumbledore told her. She looked back at him like he was crazy. "The school I work at will teach you how to control it and how to use it."

"Are you mad?" She frowned at the older man. "You've got to be if you think magic is real."

"Just think back to the times things happened that you can't explain." He told her. And she did.

The glass shattering, the girls fingers breaking, the fire, the birds, objects moving on their own.

She looked wide eyed at the professor. "It can't be."

"It is." He reassured her. "You are extremely gifted Rose. So is Tom. You belong at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"What if I don't go?" She asks.

"Then you'll never be able to control the powers within you." He told her honestly. "You have great potential Rose. I wouldn't like to see it wasted."

"Do I have a choice?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not." He told her.

"Okay, when do we leave?" She asked.

"Not for a few more weeks. You and Tom will be leaving together. You both turn 11 in the same week." He told her standing up. "I will see you both then."

She nodded and turned her attention back to the glass vase. Professor Dumbledore left without saying anything more, leaving the girl to her thoughts.

'If I use magic does that make me a witch?'

'He said Tom was gifted, does that mean he has magic too?'

'Did my Aunt know? If she did why didn't she say anything? Could she use magic?'

'Could her parents use magic? Did it run in the family? Was it her mother's or father's side of the family? Was it both sides? Who were her mother and father.'

A lot more thoughts followed those ones. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting their concentrating on the vase. Until it shattered, spilling water and small pieces of glass all over her desk and floor, bringing her back to reality.

Didn't she didn't eat dinner that night, staying shut in her room, refusing to leave. If she couldn't control her magic just yet she didn't want to accidently hurt anyone like she had before, now that she knew it was her that did it even if it was unintentional. She didn't sleep much either as her thoughts and her conversation with professor Dumbledore consumed her once again.

-x-x-x-

Tired and not wanting to get out of bed, the ten year old dragged herself from the comfort of her bed and quickly got dressed before going down to breakfast. She was the second person to get to the dining hall that morning. Tom being the first.

Instead of avoiding him like she did every morning since she'd been there, she sat beside him. Ignoring the glare he was giving her, she gave him a small smile. "You and I should really stick together right now, until we leave here at least."

Tom never said anything as a plate of cold toast was placed in front of them. He didn't need to say anything. She wasn't expecting an answer. She was only trying to plant the idea in his head. It may only be for a few weeks but anything could happen in that time and unfortunately it would.


	3. Chapter 02

Two weeks had gone by without incident. Tom hadn't taken Rose up on her offer but occasionally she had caught him intensely watching her.

It was the week before Tom and Rose would turn eleven and Dumbledore would be back to see them again. Rose was sitting out by the garden, a book in her hand. The Secret Garden was one of her favorite books from when she was a small child. The copy she had, had been given to her by her Aunt before she died. It was the only thing she kept from before the orphanages.

Melody, a girl a year older than her that liked to bully the smaller children, spotted her from across the yard. The twelve year old was abnormally large for her age. She stood a good two or three inches taller than the other twelve year olds and was a little on the chubby side. She wasn't fat nor skinny. She had a group of four other girls with her who equally liked to pick on the smaller children.

It wasn't until the book was snatched out of her hands that Rose noticed Melody was standing in front of her. She quickly stood as she glared at the much taller girl.

"Give me my book!" She growled at Melody who just smirked and closed the book purposely losing the page Rose was on. But it didn't matter to the smaller girl. She'd read the book so many times she knew where she was up to.

Melody looked at the hard cover. "The Secret Garden."

"Give it back!" Rose exclaimed trying to snatch it back. Melody held it out of her reach.

"You're always reading this book. Why are you always just reading this one?" Melody taunted her. "Can't you read anything else?"

"At least I can read!" She yelled giving Melody her most deadly glare.

Melody dropped the book as her hands went to her throat, clawing at an invisible force that seemed to be strangling her.

Rose didn't want to admit that she felt a little joy from seeing the orphanage bully gasping for air.

"Rose," she heard from behind her but ignored the voice. She felt the person standing right behind her. He was close enough to whisper in her ear. "As much as I like seeing Melody gasping for air, you need to stop."

She turned her glare to the boy behind her but it had little to no effect on him. Melody fell to the ground coughing and trying to regain her breath.

Rose looked away from Tom and bent down to snatch her book. She looked down at the blubbering mess that was Melody and glared at her again, not so forcefully this time.

"Don't ever touch my book again, who knows what I'll do next time." The almost eleven year old stormed back to her room, her head held high. She felt more confident than she had ever felt before. Maybe this magic thing won't be so bad.

-x-x-x-

Rose had been in her room for hours. Tom had expected to see her at lunch but she never came down. Tom needed to talk to her after after what had happened earlier.

Instead of waiting any longer, Tom snuck up to the girls floor and found her room. Instead of knocking, he walked in and closed the door, gaining her attention.

"What do you want, Riddle?" She frowned as she sat up from where she was laying on her bed.

"We need to talk." Tom told her as he sat on the bed opposite her. "Melody went to Mrs. Cole about what happened?"

"I wanted to kill her." Rose admitted feeling like she could tell Tom anything. It was strange, they had barely spoken to each other all this time but she felt she could trust the boy with anything. She didn't know if it was because they were similar or not.

"I could tell. But why over a book? It's just a book right?"

"It's my favorite and it has meaning." As much as she wanted to tell him everything she couldn't bring herself to do so. The recent memories of her Aunt were painful to think of. Her earlier memories of the older woman were also painful but in a different way. "Why are you talking to me Tom? It's obvious you don't think we should stick together."

"After what happened earlier, I think we should." He told her. "We need to help each other. We can't get into anymore trouble."

"I may not be here much longer if Melody has told Mrs. Cole what I did."

"They can't prove you did it. For all they know Melody could have been seeking attention." Tom said. He showed little emotion as he spoke with her.

"I can't wait until we leave this dreadful place." She sighed laying back down, letting Tom know she didn't want to talk about what happened anymore. "Goodnight Tom."

"Goodnight Rose," the young boy replied as he left her room.

-x-x-x-

The day Tom and Rose saw Professor Dumbledore again couldn't come soon enough. The disapproving look on the old man's face told Rose he knew what she had done the week before.

Instead of giving her a lecture like Mrs. Cole had done the day after, he handed her a small bag with a drawstring and handed one to Tom.

"Think of it as a late birthday gift." He told the two children. Yesterday had been Rose's birthday and Tom's had been two days before. They both didn't realize how close in age they actually were. "What's in the bags will get you everything you'll need for your first year. Come now."

The two children hurried behind the Professor as they entered a bar. He lead them to the back, tapping a few bricks. The bricks begun to move to the side creating a doorway to a hidden village.

"I have some business to take care of." He informed the two before handing them a piece of parchment each. "Here is a list of things you will need to get. Once you're done go to the inn. Tell the bar man that Albus Dumbledore has set up a room for you both. You'll be staying there until school begins."

"Thank you, Professor." Rose smiled politely at him before dragging Tom towards the first store.

In the week since the incident, Rose and Tom had become closer. They weren't best friends but could call each other a friend.

Once they had everything, they found the inn and went inside. The music, sloshing of drinks, and loud roaring of the drunken witches and wizards was slightly intimidating to Rose. She stood closer to Tom as they walked to the bar. She kept a close eye on her surroundings as Tom talked to the barman.

Her eyes didn't leave the patrons until she felt a tug on her arm. Turning her attention to Tom, she followed him up the stairs and into the room they were staying in.


End file.
